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Friday, March 5

The Nanny State and Our Children

by Blondesense Liz

Have you noticed that since 9/11/01 this country is aiding and abetting the most paranoid among us?

Of course you have.

What's been going on in schools around the country is disconcerting. No, it's more. It's scary. It's no wonder though. Turn on the TV or the radio and wing nuts are spouting inflammatory rhetoric left and right accusing nearly everyone they don't agree with of conspiring with terrorists. Look what's happening in schools now:

I read a story this morning about a 6 year old boy in Ionia, Michigan who was suspended from kindergarten for repeatedly making his fist into the shape of a gun and pointing it at others. I'm not sure that the punishment of having to stay home from school will have any effect on a 6 year old.

The mom said that there were no toy guns at home. When my son was small, I didn't allow any sort of gun device toy at home (I was sort of religious back then and believed guns were the devil's invention). One day, my son bit off part of a pretzel and it looked like a gun. He pointed it at me and said, "bang." I think it's in boy's genes to point things at others.... if you get my drift.

A few weeks ago, this story was making headlines: A 13 year old girl in Maryland was escorted out of her classroom by POLICE for refusing to say the pledge of allegiance. The teacher was verbally abusive to the girl-- so much that the poor girl can't bring herself to go back to class. The hilarity ensued when it this was revealed:

The Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that students cannot be forced to salute the flag. Maryland law explicitly allows any student or teacher to be excused from participating in the pledge, according to the ACLU.

The Montgomery school system's student handbook contains a section about "Patriotic Exercises" that reads: "You cannot be required to say a pledge, sing an anthem, or take part in patriotic exercises. No one will be permitted to intentionally embarrass you if you choose not to participate."

The teacher was forced to apologize to the student. That's all? Shouldn't the teacher and the school officials also be admonished for not knowing the rules of the school district?

Remember when you read stories about really bad kids in schools who brought weapons and hurt their teachers? The teachers were wringing their hands in desperation and in fear of the students. Now they can have kids arrested and suspended for complete nonsense.

"I started crying, like, a lot," said Alexa. "I made two little doodles. ... It could be easily erased. To put handcuffs on me is unnecessary." Alexa, who had a stellar attendance record, hasn't been back to school since, adding, "I just thought I'd get a detention. I thought maybe I would have to clean [the desk]."

Yes, Alexa, that's what you would think. But the world changed in 2001 when you were 3 years old. We are paranoid nut jobs now. We deem others to be terrorists unless they can prove otherwise. It's a crazy, topsy-turvy world now.

I used to get hit by nuns for lesser offenses. Then they'd call my parents who would beat the hell out of me for upsetting the nun. Glad those days are over. So now that you can't hit kids in school, kids are being arrested? Good Lord!!! What's more traumatizing to a kid-- being arrested or being hit (for some pretty minor offense)?